Defending Provocation: Art, Satire, and the Muhammad Cartoons

In a March 2006 editorial for art press, Jacques Henric argues for the vital role of provocation in art and literature, citing a lineage from Sade and Voltaire to Dada and Rushdie. He defends the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, initially printed by a Danish newspaper and later by France Soir, against accusations of mediocrity, noting that similar caricatures of the Pope did not provoke such aesthetic criticism. Henric lists six lessons from the controversy: France's secular republic defended free expression better than Anglo-Saxon democracies; many journalists and intellectuals showed hypocrisy or cowardice; the left remained silent while Nicolas Sarkozy spoke firmly; the moderate Islam response was unclear, as when the rector of the Paris mosque visited Jacques Chirac; the threat of violence from angry mobs calling for death to blasphemers is real; and the protesters and Muslim theologians on television are culturally ignorant, as historical Islamic art—such as a 14th-century manuscript showing the Prophet riding alongside Jesus—proves that figural representation of Muhammad was not always taboo. Henric references an art press issue on religions and an exhibition curated by Abdelwahab Meddeb in Barcelona that displayed such images.